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Ten Tips for Rental Property Owners to Avoid Common Tax Mistakes
Below is a list of tips from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) that should help rental property owners avoid what it has found are the 10 most common tax errors made by rental property investors. The ATO says that avoiding these tax mistakes will save many taxpayers both time and money. Replacing an entire part […]
The Ins and Outs of Entertainment Business Deductions
As a tax concept, “entertainment” can be relevant not only to fringe benefits tax (FBT), but also to income tax and even goods and services tax (GST). For a business, whether a business expense is “entertainment” will generally also determine whether the cost is deductible. If the expenditure can be shown to be directly connected […]
Beware Division 7A When Borrowing From Your Business
Business owners of private companies often borrow money from their own companies for all sorts of reasons. However there is an area of the tax law that seeks to sanction against situations in which private companies dole out money to those within a business, in a form other than salary or dividends, that needs to […]
Is That a Travel Allowance or Living Away From Home Allowance?
Travel allowances are paid to employees where in some cases the period away from home is less than 21 days, and in others, more than 21 days. With travel allowances, typically employees are: paid standard travel allowance for accommodation and food work at the one location visit home on weekends stay in accommodation provided by […]
Taxation of Foreign Income Derived by Australian Residents
Under Australia’s taxation regime, resident taxpayers are subject to income tax on both income derived in Australia and on foreign sourced income. As a general rule, where foreign income is derived by an Australian resident, the gross amount (including any foreign tax paid on the income) must be included as assessable income. A foreign income […]
Tax and Christmas Party Planning
Christmas will be here before we know it, and the well-prepared business owner knows that a little tax planning can help make sure there’s no unforeseen tax problems. The three benefits typically provided include: Christmas parties for employees (and perhaps their family members, and even clients) gifts to employees, their family members and clients, and […]
What’s New For Taxpayers
Before you complete your tax return for 2015, there are some changes you should be aware of in case they affect you. Mature age worker tax offset You can no longer claim the Mature age worker tax offset (MAWTO) in your tax return. Previously, to be eligible for the offset you needed to be an […]
Travel between home and work and between workplaces
While trips between home and work are generally considered private travel, you can claim deductions in some circumstances, as well as for some travel between two workplaces. If your travel was partly private and partly for work, you can only claim for the part related to your work. What you can claim You can […]
Gifts and donations
You can only claim a tax deduction for gifts or donations to organisations that have the status of deductible gift recipients (DGRs). Deductions for gifts are claimed by the person that makes the gift (the donor). For you to claim a tax deduction for a gift, it must meet four conditions: The gift […]
Capital gains tax checklist
The following questions will help you to identify possible capital gains tax (CGT) obligations. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, CGT may apply. Some questions are intended to highlight the possibility of a capital gain or loss arising in the current year, others to alert you to the possibility of a […]
Tax on Super Contributions
The tax you pay on your super contributions generally depends on whether the contributions were made before or after you paid income tax, you exceed the super contributions cap or you are a very high-income earner. Before-tax super contributions The super contributions you make before tax (concessional) are taxed at 15%. Types of before-tax contributions […]
Zone Tax Offset – exclude ‘fly-in-fly-out’
In the 2015–16 Federal Budget, the government announced that it will exclude ‘fly-in-fly-out’ and ‘drive-in-drive-out’ (FIFO) workers from the Zone Tax Offset where their normal residence is not within a ‘zone’. Currently, to be eligible for the Zone Tax Offset, a taxpayer must reside or work in a specified remote area for more than 183 […]